Hi - this is Srinivasan Sampathkumar from Triplicane. I have a passion for Marine Insurance, Cricket and of course Temples especially Thiruvallikkeni.
From Sept 2009, I am posting my thoughts in this blog ; From July 2010, my postings on Temples & Tamil are on my other blog titled "Kairavini Karayinile " (www.tamil.sampspeak.in)
Request you to keep providing your feedback which will help me improve and present better.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

It is going to be a
nerve-wracking day at Chepauk ~ after Karun Nair tryst with destiny – that 303*
joining the elite club where Virender
Sehwag was a loner ! – some of us are following Tamil Nadu’s fortunes in Ranji
as well. Kaushik Gandhi's double ton
and Vijay Shankar's century helped Tamil Nadu garner three points, owing to
their first innings lead, and grab the third position in the points-table of
Group A. BCCI has since announced the revised schedule – Semis are to be held in
Rajkot and Nagpur respectively, with both matches starting on 1 January, 2017. QF
Line up will be :

None
of the seven venues named for the knockouts is home for any of the eight teams
that have qualified, ensuring that each match will be on completely neutral
territory – a new experiment that the Indian cricket board has implemented for
the 2016-17 season. According to a report, Ravichandran Ashwin and Murali Vijay
have been picked by the Tamil Nadu team for the knockouts.

Just as we
remember 25th June 1983, 29th July 1980 is a day to
remember for Hockey fans – the day India won Gold in Men’s Hockey in Moscow
Onlympics. The team under V Baskaran's leadership then, stood like a
rock when Spain's rampaging Juan Amat had lurked the defence line in the last
ten minutes as he almost pulled off parity.

Back home, this week,
there was reason to celebrate as India played with intensity and imagination,
seldom allowing their opponents any foothold in the match. The celebrations
that ensued were understandably wild. Gurjant Singh would have lived the
scenario several times in his dreams: a World Cup final, the crowd cheering
him, and he beating the goalkeeper with a fierce hit. But even in his dreams,
the 21-year-old wouldn’t have executed it with such precision. Varun Kumar, the
scorer of India’s first goal in the junior World Cup, spotted an idle Gurjant
near the Belgian ‘D’. You could have forgiven the European side for assuming it
was harmless to leave Gurjant unmarked. It isn’t India’s style, after all, to
play long, aerial balls. But this Indian style has ditched several old ways.
And the Belgians would realize that the hard way. That Varun dared to play the
lobbed ball – that travelled half the length of the field from right to left –
was a surprise in itself. Belgian defenders were caught off guard and they
failed to control it. Gurjant was the first to reach. He controlled the
wobbling ball with the two deft touches and took it away from the defenders. To
close Gurjant’s angle, Belgium goalkeeper Loic van Doren charged towards him.
Gurjant looked up, saw the tournament’s best goalkeeper running towards him,
then spotted faintest of gaps between him at the post, and from an acute angle,
unleashed a reverse hit that flew past Van Doren.

It was one
of the finest goals of the tournament, if not the finest. And it couldn’t have
come at a more crucial moment. That goal, in the 8th minute, changed how the final would be played.
India beat Belgium to be crowned as
Champion. The 2016 Men's Hockey Junior World Cup was the 11th edition of the Hockey Junior World Cup held
in Lucknow, India from 8–18 December 2016. It certainly was the hardwork and unity as a
team that got them there – and there were many sacrifices too, writes Indian
Express.

Harendra Singh, the team’s
coach, days before the team left for its first tournament in 2014, received a
call from his family informing him that his cousin – an Armyman – had
sacrificed his life while fighting insurgents in Mizoram. The Johor Cup in Malaysia in October 2014
was the first time Harendra had a proper assessment of his players. He had been
appointed coach six months earlier, but they had been involved only in camps. This
wasn’t the only tragic incident Harendra suffered as he prepared his bunch of
world beaters. In December last year, as the team’s preparation entered its
home stretch, Harendra’s son injured his right eye in a freak accident while
playing football. His retina was damaged to such an extent that 80 per cent
vision was lost in the eye. Others in the team too made sacrifices. Santa
Singh, who started in the midfield in every match of the tournament, chose to
skip his sister’s funeral last year while back-up goalkeeper Pathak did not
travel to Nepal for his father’s last rites because he wanted to travel with
the team for one of their most important exposure tournaments before the World
Cup in July.

These incidents brought
the team together, Harendra says. “We have a Whatsapp group so everyone
gathered in the team meeting room within five minutes. And they would not let
the player who suffered the loss stay alone even for a moment. Someone or the
other was there to take care of him,” Harendra says. The coach himself focused
on the emotional and psychological needs of the players, knowing well that
these are the two key areas where Indian players had invariably faltered. In
his first meeting with the players, he reminded them of the Sydney Olympics
debacle, where India conceded a late goal against Poland to miss out on a
semifinals berth.

Hockey fans
should relisht he golden moments of
Indian hockey rather than recalling that
one humiliating loss killed the backbone taking away the fanfare and following
for the game – that dark day of Dec 1982 when the whole Nation sat
before TV sets watching Indo Pak game in the finals of Delhi Asiad – and sadly,
team lost badly. In the 1982 Asian Games
final, India met with arch rivals Pakistan. Back then, hockey, like cricket
later, was the symbol of Indian pride. In a country deprived of sporting glory,
the legend of hockey was the perfect metaphor for a country trying to hold its
head high on the world stage. Its stars, Zafar Iqbal and Mohammad Shahid, were
extensions of India's honour.

India
raced to the finals, decimating every opponent by huge margins in the group
stage, scoring 37 goals and conceding just one. The team's performance on home
ground, the euphoria of holding a successful Games and of winning 13 gold
medals, gave Indians the hope that a win in the hockey finals, by beating
Pakistan, would be the crowning glory. It was not to be. After scoring the
first goal through a penalty stroke and triggering raucous premature
celebrations across the country, India lost 1-7 to Pakistan, whose forwards
attacked the Indian half like a cavalry on a roll. The prime minister, stunned
by the humiliation, left midway; fans started crying and the mood quickly turned
funereal. That day, stoves were not lit in many Indian households.

Indian Express now adds
that at Lucknow, it became obvious that Indians still love their hockey. On the
day of the final, Lucknow's Dhyan Chand Stadium was spilling over with
spectators. "It was a record turnout for a junior World Cup match, forcing
the organisers to open sections of the stadium which were covered until Sunday,
for the fear that everyone may not accommodated. They could’ve built a couple
of more tiers and still run short of space to accommodate people." That
Indian hockey is on the upswing is apparent. Over the past few years, the
Indian team has eclipsed all its Asian rivals, racing ahead of Pakistan,
demolishing Malaysia and South Korea, who after the highs of the 80s and the
90s appear to be in terminal decline.

The junior team's victory
could well be the big-bang moment just as 1983 WC win was for Cricket. This is a team that can dominate the kind of
hockey that is played on astro-turf with its fast, relentless attacks that come
in unending waves and score from unexpected angles and positions. The good news
for Indian hockey is that some of these players would soon replace the ageing
players in the senior team and give a new push to India's quest for glory.

Could we see the
resurgence ~ Happy days are back again for Indian Hockey

Monday, December 19, 2016

Chepauk
Tests are interesting ! ~ I have been writing about Pongal tests. Remember that
famous Test win at Chepauk in Pongal 1975 – bespectacled Anshuman Gaekwad made
a good 80 in the 1st innings, while all talk would be on that lovely
97 of Gundappa Viswanath. Gaekwad played some gutsy innings taking lot of body
hits in Caribbean tours. In test no. 962
at Jullundhur in Sept 1983, he grinded Pak attack to a patient 201 playing 671 minutes facing 436
deliveries. .. .. then there was Virender Sehwag, the Sultan of Multan who
scored the first triple century for India ~ in 2008 against South Africa, in
Chepauk, he repeated – making 300 off just 278 balls.

Not
many would have fancied Karun Nair – who is the talk of all media – he had
failed in the 1st two tests … yesterday made somewhat ordinary 71
off 136 balls ad today he added 232 more in 245 balls.. the triple coming much
faster as Kohli declared immediately on his reaching the great landmark. Nair rocked on to the backfoot and thumped Adil
Rashid’s delivery of the 191st over to become only the third player in Test history
to turn his maiden hundred into a triple.

Thanks to Karun Nair’s
triple century, India amassed 759 for seven – their highest ever Test score –
as England’s misery continued in the fifth Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium
in Chennai. The total also marked the most runs ever conceded by an England
side in a Test innings.

Resuming on 391 for four
in response to England’s first innings 477, and despite the late loss of KL
Rahul one short of his double century on day three, the hosts soon took the
first innings lead and from there the game resembled a batting exhibition on a
lifeless pitch. After Nair completed his maiden Test century, Murali Vijay
departed LBW to Liam Dawson for 29 to leave India 435 for five, but England’s
hopes of ending the series with a win soon evaporated as first Ravichandran
Ashwin (67) and then Ravindra Jadeja (an entertaining 51 from 55 balls, another
wicket for the debutant Dawson) helped themselves to a slice of Indian history.
When Jadeja departed, India were on 754 and Nair on 299, and after surviving a
half-hearted LBW appeal the stocky Nair flashed the next ball to the boundary
to take his score to 303 from 381 balls. On the fourth day alone, he added 232
runs from 245. And with that, his side declared with a lead of 282 runs.

That gave the Indian spin
attack a brief run at England’s openers before close but despite some nervous
moments Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings will resume on day five with their side
12 without loss, though with little to encourage them of any consolation.

Karun Nair got to his
hundred in 185 balls. His double ton in 306 deliveries; and the third in 381
balls. To highlight his remarkable achievement even further, if it needs any added
adulation, it is just his third Test match or his third Test inning to be more
precise.

He joined Virender Sehwag
who is the only other Indian with a triple hundred to his name. The ‘Sultan of
Multan’ who has two 300s to his credit
was quick to greet him with his signature wording on twitter.

During his stint in the
middle, Karun Nair became the third
Indian batsman to turn a maiden century into a double ton with Dileep Sardesari
(200*) and Vinod Kambli (224). He thus became the highest scoring Indian with a
maiden Test century. Before Karun Nair,
Gary Sobers (365*) and Bobby Simpson (311) had turned their maiden centuries
into a triple ton in the past.

IN 1856, just five years before the outbreak of the Civil
War, the Charter Oak Life Insurance Company printed a pamphlet offering life
insurance. For just $2, Kentucky,
Missouri and Tennessee residents, for example, could purchase a 12-month policy
from the Hartford-based insurer – premium obviously was based on age; older the
person insured, costlier it was. Though
the company no longer exists, these policies are drawing increasing attention
nearly 150 years later because of a lawsuit that was filed in United States
District Court in Brooklyn ! Do you find
anything odd or eerie !

Life
Insurance is not my cup of tea ~ and my first learning of the same was
naturally from following Cricket. 25th June 1983, Kapil Dev standing
proudly with the Cup – Prudential World Cup, made me read about - Prudential
plc, an international financial services group with significant operations in
Asia, the US and the UK. Prudential was
founded in London in 1848 – and one of its divisions is Insurance (Life
Insurance). As Cricket fans would know,
the inaugural Cricket World Cup was
hosted in 1975 by England, the only nation able to put forward the resources to
stage an event of such magnitude at the time. The first 3 (in 1975, 1979 &
1983) were played in England, matches
consisted of 60 six-ball overs per team, played during the daytime in
traditional form, with the players wearing cricket whites and using red cricket
balls.

Life insurance is a
contract insurer promises to pay a
designated beneficiary a sum of money (the benefit) in exchange for a premium,
upon the death of an insured person (often the policy holder) or on maturity of
the policy. Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or
critical illness can also trigger payment. Life Assurance dates back to centuries, often
referred to he one traced to William Talbot and Sir Thomas Allen. As in most forms of insurance, there is ‘Sum
assured’. Sum assured is the amount that your
beneficiary will get if you die during the policy term. According to one thumb
rule, quoted by many financial planners, this sum assured should be at least
12-15 times your annual expenses or 8-10 times your annual income. If you have
a debt, such as a home loan, factor in that too when calculating your cover.

Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority (Irda) has mandated a minimum level of insurance in these
products so that they don’t end up being pure investment products. The minimum
cover depends upon your policy term and age.
The minimum sum assured or the death benefit on a life insurance policy
shall not be less than 10 times the annual premium for individuals below 45
years of age. And for individuals above 45 years of age, minimum sum assured is
7 times the annual premium.

Though it makes
a sad reading, it is a fact that there existed slavery ! – man enslaving fellow
humans !! Slaves were considered property, and they were property because they
were black. Their status as property was enforced by violence -- actual or
threatened. Enslaved
African Americans could never forget their status as property, no matter how
well their owners treated them. Human beings who live and work together are
bound to form relationships of some kind, and some masters and slaves could genuinely have cared for each other; however, the caring
was tempered and limited by the power imbalance under which it grew. Masters and slaves were never equal.

This is no post on ‘treatment lf slaves’ – but on
insurance of slaves, who were even treated as cargo when in transit and
policies inured to the benefit of masters. Slave insurance in the United States has
become a matter of historical and legislative interest. In the history of
slavery in the United States, a number of insurance companies wrote policies
insuring slave owners against the loss, damage, or death of their slaves. The
fact that a number of insurers continue the businesses that serviced these
policies has brought attention to this history.

Now, if you are to read
the first para again, in 1856, just five years before the outbreak of the Civil
War, the Charter Oak Life Insurance Company printed a pamphlet offering slave
owners in six Southern states the option of insuring the lives of their slaves.
For just $2, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee residents, for example, could
purchase a 12-month policy from the Hartford-based insurer on a 10-year-old
domestic servant that would yield $100 if the slave died. Policies for older
slaves, like a 45-year-old, were more expensive, costing the slave owner $5.50
a year.

Though the company no
longer exists, these policies are drawing increasing attention nearly 150 years
later because of a lawsuit that was filed in United States District Court in
Brooklyn, in late March against Aetna Inc. and two other companies, claiming
that they profited from the slave trade. In Connecticut, where insurance has
long been a principal industry, the documents exhibit a painful reminder of the
past, especially in a Northern state that is proud of its abolitionist
ancestors like John Brown. ''It's not
pleasant to talk about it today, to put it mildly, but slaves were insured just
like any other thing that the farmers owned, that the slave owners owned,''
said Tom Baker, director of the Insurance Law Center at the University of
Connecticut School of Law.

New York Life, the
nation’s third-largest life insurance company, opened in Manhattan’s financial
district in the spring of 1845. The firm possessed a prime address — 58 Wall
Street — and a board of trustees populated by some of the city’s wealthiest
merchants, bankers and railroad magnates. Sales were sluggish that year. So the
company looked south. There, in Richmond, Va., an enterprising New York Life
agent sold more than 30 policies in a single day in February 1846. Soon,
advertisements began appearing in newspapers from Wilmington, N.C., to
Louisville as the New York-based company encouraged Southerners to buy
insurance to protect their most precious commodity: their slaves.

Alive,
slaves were among a white man’s most prized assets. Dead, they were considered
virtually worthless. Life insurance changed that calculus, allowing slave
owners to recoup three-quarters of a slave’s value in the event of an untimely
death.

James De Peyster Ogden,
New York Life’s first president, would later describe the American system of
human bondage as “evil.” But by 1847, insurance policies on slaves accounted
for a third of the policies in a firm that would become one of the nation’s
Fortune 100 companies. Georgetown, Harvard and other universities have drawn
national attention to the legacy of slavery this year as they have acknowledged
benefiting from the slave trade and grappled with how to make amends. But
slavery also generated business for some of the most prominent modern-day
corporations, underscoring the ties that many contemporary institutions have to
this painful period of history. Like New
York Life, Aetna and US Life also sold insurance policies to slave owners,
particularly those whose laborers engaged in hazardous work in mines, lumber
mills, turpentine factories and steamboats in the industrializing sectors of
the South. US Life, a subsidiary of AIG, declined to comment on its slave
policy sales. Wachovia, one of Wells Fargo’s predecessor companies, has
apologized for its historic ties to slavery as have JPMorgan Chase and Aetna.

More than 40 other firms,
mostly based in the South, sold such policies, too, though documentation is
scarce and most closed their doors generations ago. New York Life survived. Its
foray into the slave insurance business did not prove to be lucrative: The
company ended up paying out nearly as much in death claims — about $232,000 in
today’s dollars — as it received in annual payments. But in the span of about
three years, it sold 508 policies, more than Aetna and US Life combined,
according to available records. Now, the descendants of one of those slaves —
who were recently identified by The New York Times — are coming to terms with
the realization that one of the nation’s biggest insurance companies sold
policies on their ancestors and hundreds of other enslaved laborers.

Policy No. 447 covered
Nathan York, a slave who toiled in the Virginia coal mines where the earth
often collapsed on its subterranean work force. Policy No. 1141 insured a slave
known as Warwick, who fed the fiery furnaces on a Kentucky steamboat. Policy
No. 1150 covered Anthony, who labored amid the whirling blades of a sawmill in
North Carolina. The handwritten record of sales, insurance premiums and
expenditures, many described here for the first time, illuminate the inner
workings of a company born before the Civil War. That history has stirred
anxiety among some New York Life executives, who take pride in their
multiracial work force and customer base. They worry that news coverage about
the company’s ties to slavery may overshadow their efforts to provide
philanthropic support to the black community.

Insurance
companies have gone on record putting their profound regret of their erstwhile
act of such insurances. The recent
newsitem of NY Times put that - Officials typically insured the lives of white
customers for $1,000 to $5,000 in the early years. Slaves, on the other hand,
were considered property under the law and were typically insured for about
$400, the records show, and some for as little as $200. Payouts from death
claims usually went to the grieving relatives of white customers. In the case of
slaves, however, it was the slave owners — who insured their laborers and paid
the annual premiums — who collected.

The facts and figures and more importantly the cause of action [the
nature of death of such insured slaves] makes a sad and disturbing reading ..
.. ..

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Sure, you rode a
bi-cycle in your life… as all of us know, it is the roller chain that transfers
power from the pedals to the back wheel, driving the cycle forward ~ and as
could be seen the pedal has teeth … is it the available
teeth or those missing teeth that moves the cycle forward ?

At Chepauk,
in Test no. 2241, the day clearly belonged to KL Rahul – who however would rue
the day !! - Rahul managed a wonderfully
fluent century, the fourth and the highest of his career; his first in India. But for an aberration
against Rashid just before the close, he would be celebrating wildly tonight.

Chennai has not witnessed
any battles and is not the land of any kingdoms. Many of us who have lived for ages in Chennai
may not have seen this ! Sandwiched
between landmarks, this has often escaped public glare. On the one side is the Beach Road – Opposite to Triumph of Labour Statue
[Uzhaippalar Silai] lies the Ezhilagam Complex housing many State Govt.
offices. On the banks of Buckingham canal which once flowed and
thorough which boat transportation occurred till Pondy, is a century old building with a colourful history behind – touted
as a fine example of Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, a style for which
Madras became famous. It is called Chepauk palace and on the other banks is the
famous Chepauk stadium – MA Chidambram Stadium.

Here are
some tests… Test No. 708 – India won by 4 wickets against England; Test No. 752 ever remembered by that classy
knock of Vishwanath; great bowling of Andy Roberts and the defeat (100 runs at
that) suffered by Clive Lloyd against Pataudi led Indians in 1975; Test no. 841
Kalicharran led WI lost to Gavaskar captained India in 1979; Test no. 869 –
grand Indian win against Pakistan in 1980 – Kapil Dev Man of the Match, Sandip
Patil made his debut; Test no. 1089
Vivian Richards led WI lost badly (255 runs) to Ravi Shastri led Indians –
Hirwant made dream debut taking 16 wickets – WV Raman and Ajay Sharma also made
their debuts….

~ all Indian
wins …. Not the only link… all Chepauk tests… and more importantly the Pongal
Tests !!!............... the ground at
Chepauk has been in existence from imperial days – the first ever test here was
in 1933-34 when Douglas Jardine played Ck Nayudu led team. Crowds have always come in large numbers ~ it is not only the numbers – they are
reputed to be most knowledgeable and appreciative.. somehow some sheen has been
lost after Pongal tests. It was unwise to have a match in Dec ~ cyclone Vardah
almost proved that – yet the Test is on [after the tearful farewell to
respectful CM Ms J Jayalilathaa]

I remember seeing that
Pongal Test at Chepauk in Jan 1977.
Critics booed India for their lacklustre performance. Those were the days when Test matches had a
rest day ! In that Test no. 793, England opened with Dennis Amiss and Bob
Woolmer who was born in Kanpur and later died in Jamaica mysteriously during WC
2007, when he was the coach of Pakistan.
Tony Greig was the captain- John Brearly, Roger Tolchard, Derek Randall,
Alan Knott, John Lever, Chris Old, Bob Willis and Derek Underwood played and
were all out for 262. Bishan Bedi took
4; Madanlal and Prasanna 2 apiece. India
could muster only 164 – Lever took 5/59.
England were bowled out for 185 [Chandra took 5/50; Prasanna 4/55] and
chasing 284, Indians were bundled out for 83 – Willis 3/18 and Underwood 4/28 inflicting the
damage. .. .. and that was the infamous Lever Vaseline test too !!!

Today, (18th
Dec 2016) Chepauk was on its feet. It was deafening. KL Rahul and Virat Kohli sprinted;
Kohli rejoiced Rahul’s three figure mark midway. .. .. sadly, towards the close
of play – while everyone was celebrating Rahul’s feat, he perhaps would be
melancholic, having been dismissed for 199 – 1 run short of a maiden 200. He joined a sad
but illustrious list of 9 Batsmen who have been dismissed for 199 in Tests - KL
Rahul is the second Indian in this list, after Mohammad Azharuddin, who fell
for 199 against Sri Lanka in Kanpur 30 years ago. In all there have been 11
instances of batsmen scoring 199 in Tests, including two occasions when batsmen
were not out at that score. All those
happened after 1984. Mudassar Nazar was
the 1st ; Kumara Sangakkara and Andy Flower remained unbeaten on
199*

All headlines of Cricket
today is - KL Rahul fell one short of a maiden double-hundred after leading
India's response to England's 477 in excellent batting conditions at the MA
Chidambaram Stadium. Having been at the crease for more than 100 overs, Rahul
fell with stumps imminent. He walked off distraught, after reaching for a
loopy, wide ball from Adil Rashid and spooning a catch to cover point. At stumps, India trail England by 86 with six
wickets in hand, with Nair batting on 71. With him on 17 was M Vijay, who came
in at No. 6 rather than his customary position at the top of the order because
of a shoulder injury sustained while fielding.

In the last
ball of 82nd over, with Rahul on 154* - there was a single off Joe
Root with Nair running to non-striker end.
The throw was bad, and a ruing Johnny Bairstow did not take the bails
off – was it frustration or a fumble ? – Rahul was clearly out of the crease
then !!

Saturday, December 17, 2016

It would surprise a visitor and some residents may not
even be aware, that the city of Chennai houses a deer park in the middle. It is the Guindy National park, established
in 1976 ranging 2.82 Km2. The park is an extension of the grounds surrounding
Raj Bhavan, formerly known as the ‘Guindy Lodge’, the official residence of the
Governor of Tamil Nadu. The National
park has various vegetation zones mainly tropical dry evergreen flora and is
home to spotted deer, black bucks and
many other animals too. Cyclone Vardahwrecked
havoc on the green lung of the city, felling trees everywhere. Reports suggest that the Vandalur Zoo and the
Guindy National Park present a picture of devastation with hundreds of trees
uprooted inside.

Miles away, a white-tailed
deer that went from being a minor celebrity in Harlem to a cause célèbre after
its capture – is in the midst of some not so happy ending !

The man facing criticism is
- Bill de Blasio, the 109th mayor of New York City. From 2010 to 2013, he
held the citywide office of New York City public advocate. Manhattan is the
most densely populated borough of New York City, its economic and
administrative center, and the city's historical birthplace. Mayor de Blasio on
Friday refused to stay the execution of a deer that wandered into Manhattan —
saying it would be more humane to kill it because relocation would lead to a
long, traumatizing death. “There’s no other option,” the mayor insisted on WNYC
radio, rejecting Gov. Cuomo’s offer to try to safely relocate the deer. The
deer isn’t injured, but de Blasio said the process of moving it would be too
“traumatizing” and lead to “all sorts of extended pain” because the deer
wouldn’t be able to adapt to a new environment.

The animal-rights lovers were quick to blast the mayor. The one in news is a deer that swam across
the East River to Manhattan in a vain bid to find a mate and then was
living in a park in Harlem for weeks;
was given a reprieve from a death sentence. The wayward buck was set to be put to death
after galloping merrily for weeks around a housing complex. The Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo,
tweeted : 'We want to do everything we can to save the deer. We have told the
city that the feds or we can transport it upstate today.' ; while reports suggested that the Mayor felt there
was 'no other option' but to euthanize the deer.

That was not to be a firm position
~ as the Mayor later relented. The deer was guessed to have swum across from
the Bronx, which is attached to the mainland. Some plans were on to transport
it to Newyork. The deer was first spotted
earlier this month in a copse in Jackie Robinson Park and has been living there
ever since. The State position was that euthanization was the preferred route, as it
was felt unsafe to relocate deer.

~ ~ ~ and ..
then the deer died, presumably due to
the considerable amount of stress it had experienced in a short period. The
preliminary causes of death, according to a New York City parks spokesman, were
stress and the day and a half that the deer spent at a city animal shelter in
East Harlem.

Now more people are talking
about the deer and the way it was treated !!!
- the East River is a salt water
tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river
despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island
Sound on its north end.

Friday, December 16, 2016

India was hit by
a storm on the night of 8th Nov 2016 ~ people first rumoured and
then heard in disbelief – PM Shri Narendra Modi’s announcement that the
currencies in the denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 would become invalid by
night. People in cities were glued to
TVs and news channels following US Presidential polls, when something trembled
under their carpet. The major
unprecedented step to check black money,
did cause panic.

People were given long
time [from 10th Nov to 31st Dec 2016] to deposit whatever
they legally had with them [in 500s & 1000s] in their bank accounts and a
small portion was allowed to be changed instantaneously. There have been serpentine queues in front of
ATMs and bank branches and many have been making negative criticisms too !
Before we read further, how many of us had lakhs of Rupees [in 500s &
1000s] and did anyone of us have had any difficulty in depositing the same in
Bank account .. .. [personally, I waited for a fortnight before walking to my
friendly bank to deposit, had only 3 persons standing before ~ the transaction
took less than 15 minutes ! ]

Economic affairs secretary
Shaktikanta Das today said initially the focus was on printing Rs 2,000 notes
and now the focus has been shifted to Rs 500 as there is enough of former now.
He also estimated that in another 10 days about 50 percent of the value of
notes demonetised will be replaced. He added that the enforcement agencies are conducting
surgical action of cash hoarders referring to the increasing income tax raids
on various individuals and bank branches.

Now to the serpentine
queues in front of banks and ATMs – there appears problem – common men are spending long hours and put to difficulty –
what defies understanding is –the ATM dispenses one single note Rs.2000 [limit
is 2400 !] – one teasing Q is how many of salaried people like us withdraw
every month – is that ever in lakhs ? ~ [for many there would be nothing to
withdraw after taking 30000 or so in a month] – then Rs.24000/- a week [when
available] should not be presenting any problem at all !! – also sections of 10
/ 20 / 50 / 100 would have been hoarded in some households and such money
should last for a couple of months.

While there is no denying
the fact that common man is put to hardship – is the media hype real ? are
people really dying standing in queues. In
Tamil TV channels, in Discussion Forums, you could see and hear comrades ask
typically :

oAre Adanis & Ambanis
standing in the Queue for exchange ?

oCan such people conduct
marriage at the stipulated withdrawal limit of Rs.2,50,000/- - how utopian

~ nothing can be
misleading and farther than the truth than their contentions !! Without
thinking of Adani & Ambani – think of any Rich person you know – how many
persons he has working ? – have you ever seen them standing in any queue ?

The
much touted speech on 2.50 lakh limit is cash withdrawal for marriage and not
the limit of expenditure. In a typical
way, the South Indian marriages are conducted – you fix marriage hall; arrange
famous caterer; another contractor for miscellaneous; buy dress for relatives ….
and the like – now all these can be done by swipe of card / cheque / other
payments – where is the trouble ?

Bank
officials / Unions are protesting .. yes, many of them did work hard – again in
some ways, dispensing only Rs.10000/- per individual, that too in 2000 currency
could have been done with much easier aplomb – may be in more counters also
(they would have had their share of trouble and stress) – but the following
news are disturbing…. !!!

In a fresh raid conducted
at the Axis Bank's Noida branch, Income tax department unearthed deposits worth Rs 60 crore from
twenty fake accounts. A TOI report said these deposits were found in the
accounts belonging to low-income workers and labourers. The I-T department
found these fake accounts after a jeweller sold gold of Rs 600 crore post the 8
November demonetisation announcement, and later deposited the money at the
Noida branch, the TOI report added. This
came after the I-T department conducted a raid at the bank's Chandni Chowk
branch in New Delhi last week where they uncovered Rs 100 crore deposited in 44
fake accounts.

Another report states that
Chief Executive Officer of a Jaipur co-operative bank went missing after
officials of the Income-Tax department swooped down on several of its branches. Before some cry foul on Private banks, IT officials
unearthed nearly Rs 10 crore of unaccounted money from lockers of a Bank of
Maharashtra branch in Pune. Authorities are probing the involvement of bank
officials in the illegal stashing of black money. The system is not to be blamed but there are
some blacksheep derailing the good move.

Now read this report in
today’s Economic Times : Long queues in
front of the ATMs (Automatic Teller Machines) are not necessarily due to lack
of currency supply alone, but banks, which get the supplies from the Reserve
Bank, are hoarding the cash themselves to service their own customers instead
of putting them in the vending machine, say executives. Companies which manage the ATM network of the
country and transport cash say that they are receiving less than 10% of the
currency that is being supplied into the system by the Reserve Bank of India.
That hoarding at the bank level is holding back ATMs getting replenished even
though most of the 2.2 lakh ATMs have been recalibrated to dispense new
currency notes.

While the RBI may be
deliberately reducing the cash availability to boost digital payments, banks
are helping their preferred, priority customers with cash. “Initially we were not getting cash because
there was a serious shortage of supply, but now supply has gone up
significantly but the ATM network of the country is still running dry, because
banks are keeping the cash with their branches and not giving to us,” said an
official from a company which manage a major ATM network, but who did not want
to be identified. Industry sources say
that the larger banks in the country are keeping 90% of the cash that they are
receiving in their branches to be distributed only to their customers, with
wealthier ones getting preference. “If
they put money in the ATMs they fear that smaller bank customers will take away
the cash, hence they are keeping it in their branches so that they can service
their own customers,” said the person quoted above.

As per data released by
the Reserve Bank of India currency worth Rs 4.6 lakh crore has been released to
the public through bank counters and ATMs between November 10 and December 10,
which shows that around Rs 15,000 crore was pumped in every day. “Now the
number has gone up beyond Rs 20,000 crore, still we are not getting our share
to replenish the ATM network,” said an official with a cash logistics company.
“This is causing the ATMs to remain empty,” he added. Further they said that instead of filling up
ATMs with Rs 50 lakh which was the norm previously, now banks are not putting
more than Rs 5 lakh per ATM. “This is causing most of the ATMs to get empty
within few hours of starting service,” said one of the officials quoted above.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Every road in every city bustles with traffic - with the
increasing no. of vehicles, congested roads, speed, recklessness, urbanization,
transport vehicles – accidents on the road are common place.

Many of us have
seen some accidents – death and injuries are not to be construed at medico
legal phenomena alone. There are many profound psychological and social
consequences apart from the death or the injuries. The sufferings can seldom be
quantified in financial terms. More significant would be the horrific trauma
caused to those bereaved by the sudden, unexpected snatching away of the bread
winner. Motor Insurance is compulsory ~ all vehicles on public road should
compulsory have insurance – not a policy covering the vehicle or its owner but
some, which are stated in the Motor Vehicles Act itself.

In days of yore, to
give effective rights to the person injured or expired in an accident, Fatal
Accidents Act, 1885 was enacted in India. This Act provided only a
procedure and a right of named legal heirs to claim compensation from the
person committing negligence. In 1939, Motor Vehicles Act, a statute
consolidated the laws relating to motor vehicles. This has since been replaced
by MV Act 1988. Motor Accident Claims Tribunal [MACT] have been set up in
accordance with the statute and the injured or the legal representatives of
deceased can file claim application in MACT.

The Motor Vehicles
Act and the setting up of MACT is considered beneficial legislation in nature –
a legislation that has a broader view considering the welfare of
people. MACTs are set up for providing correct and speedy compensation to
the victims of road accidents.

Motor Insurance is compulsory and all vehicles (other than Govt
vehicles) must possess valid Certificate of Insurance. Though Motor constitutes major portfolio of
most Insurers, it is loss prone too.
Over the years, the no. of accidents have risen and so did the quantum
of awards. Perhaps the premium is still
not enough. The TP premium are tariffed
and regulated by IRDA. In Apr 2011, they
had issued a notification reviewing the premium rates of Motor Third party
insurance covers spelling out a specific formula. Recently (Mar 2016) it was observed that the
cost inflation index (CII) had increased by 5.57% over
the previous year, i.e. from 1024 in FY 2014-15 to 1081 in FY 2015-16.Subsequently
the rates were revised upwards.

When there is a road accident – the injured or the legal heirs (if
deceased) file petition before MACT claiming compensation against the vehicle
owner impleading the Insurer also. After
due procedure, the Hon’ble Court passes award against the owner / Insurer and
by virtue of Policy, Insurers effect payment of compensation. Here is a recent instance of a MACT
claim (reported in The Hindu) – whence
the Honble High Court of Madras commented that the work of Officials of Govt
Insurers is detrimental to the interests of the Companies. Here below is the news reproduced :

The Madras High Court Bench
has said that it has every reason to believe that officials of public-sector
insurance companies often collude with claimants in motor accident cases and
let them walk away with huge amounts of money as compensation, without placing
the true facts of the case before motor accident claims tribunals. This is to
the detriment of the insurance companies the officials work for, the court
said. Justice N Kirubakaran made the observation last Friday while passing
interim orders on two appeals lodged by United India Insurance challenging an
award for INR 6.67 lakhs passed by the Tirunelveli Motor Accident
Claims Tribunal in favour of two injured motorcyclists though the offending car
did not have a valid insurance policy on the day of the incident, reported the
local media.

“These appeals would
highlight as to how the public-sector undertakings are functioning and how the
officials are acting negligently and without any responsibility in a manner
prejudicial to the interest of the insurance companies,” the judge said. He
summoned the Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of United India Insurance to
the court on 22 December to explain the "negligence and carelessness"
of officials which were repeated in motor accident claim cases. The CMD was
ordered to be present in the court along with details of the quantum of money
that had been paid by the insurance company towards third party claims in the
last 10 years. “If insurance companies are going to defend their cases in this
fashion, it would cause losses to the companies which are already incurring
heavy losses in respect of third-party claims running to hundreds of crores of
rupees,” the judge said.

“It is also brought to the
notice of this court that counterstatements are not properly prepared ... and
there is collusion between some of the insurance lawyers and claimants/counsels
and officials of insurance companies prejudicing the rights of those companies.
This aspect has to be looked into very seriously. “This court has every reason
to believe that even the officials of the insurance companies are not properly
giving instructions and are defending the case with design. This kind of
failure or negligence should be curtailed or prevented.”

Insurance policy: During the course of the hearing, the judge
said it was difficult to comprehend how the insurance officials could not have
brought up the fact that the car lacked a valid insurance policy on 5 January
2014 when the accident occurred on Tirunelveli-Kovilpatti Main Road though the
car owner had renewed the expired insurance policy on 7 January. He pointed out
that the tribunal had directed the insurance company to pay INR5.59 lakh to the
injured motorcyclist and INR1.08
lakh to the pillion rider only in the belief that the car had a valid insurance
on the date of accident. Otherwise, the owner of the car would have been
directed to bear the liability of paying the award amount.

The vehicle had hit the
motorcycle, injuring both the rider and the pillion rider. The insurance
company had denied all allegations, except regarding the insurance policy. This
showed how negligently the insurance company officials acted without
responsibility, the court said. "There is no collection of materials to
defend the case of the insurance company whether the vehicle is insured." Utmost
care must be taken to defend the cases when the claim filed involved hundreds
of thousands of rupees, the court said.

Thursday, December 8, 2016

When you wake up in the morning, what is the passion that
fuels you to start your day? Are you living this in your
work? If others asked you what drives you to achieve, would the
answer be obvious? The triggers that motivate people to achieve are
unique for everyone. A Management Guru quoted people as saying it is :
Money, incentives, rewards, recognitions, career advancement, edge over others,
… and more !!! - what is your take ????

In
Vijay film ‘Sura’ – Vadivelu as Amber la would tickle bones. In one scene, he would start elaborately for
a boat race, spend money for his friends only to reach the venue by evening,
when the race was scheduled in the morning !

There
have been movies revolving around sea and fisherfolk - Manickam is the leader of a fishing
community named Thirukkai Meenavargal; their opposition group is Sura
meenavargal. There is enmity between the
groups – Manickam, the honest, compassionate, principled man faces lots of
trouble – add the usual village zamindar.
Manickam falls in love with the daughter of his rival – there comes the
boat race, Manickam in disguise helps the rival party. – old timers would
easily have identified this to be the storyline of ‘Padagotti’ the MG
Ramachandran starrer.

Sometime back, I had
posted on a small bridge [of say 30 odd meters]
across Buckingham canal at Triplicane – at Triplicane MRTS Railway
station that was a welcome move for the residents. It helped the residents avoid walking a few
extra meters in the not so well maintained roads and provided a sense of
security being in the midst of people.
The bridge connected the Railway station to the other part of the road
across the canal. There are bridges in
many parts of the globe. The
Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge spreading
164.8-kilometre (102.4 mi) is the longest bridge and it is in China’s
Jiangsu province. In India, Mahatma Gandhi
Setu over the river Ganges connecting Patna in the south to Hajipur in the
north of Bihar with length of 5,575 metres is the longest river bridge in
India, inaugurated by the then Prime
Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi.

The Thamirabarani River (தாமிரபரணி)
originates
from Pothigai hills on the eastern
slopes of the Western Ghats at an elevation of 1,725 metres (5,659 ft) above
sea-level. The river is joined by its headwater tributaries Peyar, Ullar,
Pambar before it flows into the Kariyar Dam reservoir, where it meets Kariyar. Servalar
joins the Thamirabarani before it enters into the Papanasam lower reservoir,
which was built for the Papanasam Hydroelectric station. The river flows
through Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts of the Tamil Nadu into the Gulf of
Mannar. It is a divine place too – with some most beautiful temples including
Nava Tirupathi sthalams across the river and the famous Nellaiyappar temple and
Tiruchendur Murugan Temples nearby.

The river banks are
fertile areas and one can see banana plantations and other vegetations. There are villages and there are some –
accessing which is by crossing the river.
Here is a story in Hindu (Tamil edition – 24th Nov 2016) on a
81 year old lady, serving for the locals in crossing the river. The article is translated for easy reading :

In Kanyakumar
Dist – At Kuzhithurai area, Anjalikkadavu is a tiny village on the banks of
Tamirabarani river. On oneside is
Vilathurai Panchayat and on the other is Methu Kummal Panchayat. If one crosses the river, the distance is
less than 200 metre but if one were to travel by road, it is 12 km approx..

The old lady
Ms Rathnabai (81) has been providing that vital link, earning her livelihood
and in the process helping the local
cross the river. In the morning the area
buzzes with school children and labourers.
The process is laborious – a strong rope is connected from one shore to
the other. She at her ripe old age, has
no power to row with oars, she simply pulls alongside the rope, making the boat
and its occupants cross the river. She is
quoted as saying : ‘rowing boat is our family tradition. My husband Ramaiyan too was engaged in this
but after his stroke disease, I had to enter this occupation. At first, I used a long bamboo pole, then
oars. Those who use the boat are basically poor people and they pay a Rupee or
Two ~ and family runs on this revenue. After
a prolonged illness for a decade, my husband passed away. I had 4 boys and 2 girl children and only a
boy and a girl have survived.

She
continues to be bread-winner – age has taken its toll and she is unable to oar
and pull the boat as she did earlier -
now the boat and her lifeboat are pulled by the rope. The rope would last for
an year or so and would cost Rs.1000/- for renewing. To the tale of woes, she
adds that the boat developed a hole an year ago. As she had no money to repair, she could not
run the boat services (!) for 5 months. The villagers felt the impact and
requested continuance of her services. She
felt the need for continuing the service that their family had done over the
years and feeling the need for helping the villagers, had a new boat bought by
her grandson.

It perhaps
is the work of Govt – Public Welfare Department – there are many village bodies
with revenue too – but in life as it happens, the old lady feels it her
responsibility and continues to row for the villagers – thinking of it as a
service and not as a burden. In a
Metropolitan city, every educated man would ask – why should I do something for
the society, it is the duty of Government and I pay taxes !! – then there are
old persons like Rathnabai who do something beyond their capacity. She is quoted as requesting the Governmental
agencies help in a big measure to ensure that his family continues the
tradition – or else, fears that the ferry service might end with her life.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

To many of
us, since a few decades, the week would not be complete without reading this
magazine – only for its founder, editor and alas, this becomes the last issue.

Muhammad bin
Tughluq was the Sultan of Delhi of Turkic descent through 1324 to 1351. He was
born in Kotla Tolay Khan in Multan. His wife was the daughter of the Raja of
Dipalpur. All of us heard of him so many times, though not too keen students of
history. Back home, Muhammad bin
Thughlaq, a comedy film hit the screens in 1971, directed and written by Cho Ramaswamy. It was the
movie version of the stage play of the
same name. Both the play and the film were conceptualized, written and directed
by Cho who also starred as the title character. The film is a satirical take on
the then political and social affairs of India and is considered a fine
portrayal of the political attitude existent till today.

Cho Ramaswamy
founded magazine named it ‘Thuglak’ - has been the editor of the magazine ever
since and has penned several columns. The magazine features on its front cover
a satirical cartoon, pertinent to an issue of current social and public
interest – many a times, donkeys have adorned its cover page. The magazine reportedly stopped for 2 weeks
during emergency and when resumed it had a black front cover. Thuglak was the only magazine in India, whose
advertisements were also censored during this time.

Cho was a
real multi-faceted genius. His comedy
rolls had him speaking madras bashai – his legal acumen was flawless. Sad, Journalist, political analyst and
satirist Cho Ramaswamy died today morning at Apollo Hospital in Chennai, where he was
admitted. He was 82. He is survived by his wife, a son and daughter. A former
BJP Rajya Sabha member Ramaswamy was ailing for some time and was in the
hospital.

Srinivasa
Iyer Ramaswamy Called as Cho Ramaswamy - actor, comedian, character actor, editor, political
satirist, playwright and dialogue writer, film director and lawyer – political advisor
and man respected by millions is sadly no more.His popularity in the Tamil Nadu
literary circles is mainly due to assessment of political issues, and the
audacity with which he published his viewpoints. Many politicians have been some of the targets
of his editorial attacks.

Cho's plays,
though staged some decades back, still remain fresh in the minds of the people.
Cho's satire, which scrupulously stays away from personal animosity or
vulgarity, hold immense appeal. The plays advise, comment, expose and tickle
and tease only to correct but never to hurt any individual or institution. His
dramas provide clean and wholesome entertainment to the family. Cho S.
Ramaswamy's plays have set a trend for Tamil theatre, especially in political
satire.

"Judgement Reserved" is about a sensational court case,
exposing the crass hypocrisy and opportunism of the elite segments.

Tamil World
will certainly miss this great gentleman who always spoke truth. His
commentaries on Hinduism and Mahabaratham will remain great pieces showing
indepth knowledge, imparting tradition, culture and values to youngsters.